This relates to my programming question here. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4560554/bell-curve-gaussian-algorithm-python-and-or-c

On Answers.com, I found this simple example:

1. Find the arithmetic mean (average) => Sum of all values in the set, divided by the numbers of elements in the set

2. Find the sum of the squares of all values in the set

3. Divide output of (2) over the numbers of elements in the set

4. Substract the square of mean (1) from the output of (3)

5. Take the square root of the outcome of (4)

Example:

Set A={1,3,4,5,7}

1. (1+3+4+5+7)/5 = 4
2. (11+33+44+55+7*7)=1+9+16+25+49 = 100
3. 100 / 5 = 20
4. 20 - 4*4=20-16 = 4
5. SQRT(4) = 2

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_to_find_the_variance_of_a_set_of_numbers#ixzz19fIdujyG

Now given all that, how can I fit the above data to a bell curve (such as a credit score) ranging from 200 to 800. Obviously the number 5 in the above set would be 500. But then what is the formula for determining what 3 should be on the same scale. Even though the original set Set A={1,3,4,5,7} is not a bell-curve, I want to force it into a bell-curve.

Imagine these are scores of 5 people. Next month the scores might change as follows: Set A2={1,2,4,5,9} (one guys loses a point, and the top guy gains two more points - the rich get richer and the poor get poorer). Then perhaps a new guy comes into the set: Set A3={1,2,4,5,8,9}.

Thanks, Neal